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Tough Race For Yamaha In Malaysia

It was a tough race at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia for the Yamaha Factory team, with both Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies having a hard time dealing with bad weather conditions during Sunday's race in Malaysia.

Lorenzo took the holeshot from pole at the Sepang circuit with his closest rival Dani Pedrosa in pursuit less than half a second behind. The Mallorcan led the race until just before the last corner on lap nine where the Spanish Repsol Honda rider was able to make his move. The rain increased at this point making riding extremely difficult for all the riders and Lorenzo himself miraculously saving a fall into turn 15. In the thirteenth lap the race was red flagged after a number of riders fell in the treacherous conditions.

With two more races to go this season, Lorenzo holds a 23 point lead in the Riders Championship. Lorenzo can secure his second MotoGP title this weekend in Australia if he manages to finish in the top 13 and in front of Pedrosa.

American Ben Spies had dropped three places from the start grid, avoiding another rider spinning off the line. As a result the Texan went into the first corner in ninth position, then dropping to tenth in the tird lap. Spies then found an impressive race pace matching the guys at the front and it looked like he was moving up the field until he fell on the eighth lap in the incredibly slippery conditions.

Jorge Lorenzo
“If we were riding at 20km per hour it is easy to stay on the bike but it is very difficult to find the limit in these conditions. They made the right decision to stop the race, for us it was great because we might otherwise have finished on the ground and crashed. We used the soft rear where Dani and Casey used the harder one. When the conditions were ok they used less of the centre of the tyre so when the conditions became worse they had more to play with.”

Ben Spies
“What a shocking race, the water on the track was incredible. I’m really sorry for rubbing into Nicky, I thought I had enough space to brake; I’m relieved we didn’t go down together and he was ok. It was a close one at the start as well, Dovi spun off the line and we were lucky not to make contact. That was one of the wettest races I’ve had in a long time, my shoulder’s really sore from the fall but thankfully nothing too serious so I’ll be able to ride in Australia.”

Press release courtesy of Yamaha Factory Racing.

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2024 F1 Championship Standings (as of March 24)

PDriverTeamPoints
1Max VerstappenRed Bull51
2Charles LeclercFerrari47
3Sergio PerezRed Bull46
4Carlos SainzFerrari40
5Oscar PiastriMcLaren28
6Lando NorrisMcLaren27
7George RussellMercedes18
8Fernando AlonsoAston Martin16
9Lance StrollAston Martin9
10Lewis HamiltonMercedes8
11Oliver BearmanFerrari6
12Yuki TsunodaRB6
13Nico HülkenbergHaas3
14Kevin MagnussenHaas1
15Alexander AlbonWilliams0
16Daniel RicciardoRB0
17Esteban OconAlpine0
18Pierre GaslyAlpine0
19Valtteri BottasKick Sauber0
20Logan SargeantWilliams0
21Zhou GuanyuKick Sauber0
PTeamPoints
1Oracle Red Bull Racing97
         Poles: 3       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 2
2Scuderia Ferrari93
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 1
3McLaren F1 Team55
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
4Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team26
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
5Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team25
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
6Visa Cash App RB F1 Team6
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
7MoneyGram Haas F1 Team4
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
8Williams Racing0
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
9BWT Alpine F1 Team0
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
10Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber0
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0

2024 MotoGP Championship Standings (as of March 24)

PRiderTeamPoints
1Jorge MartinPramac Racing60
2Brad BinderRed Bull KTM42
3Enea BastianiniDucati Lenovo39
4Francesco BagnaiaDucati Lenovo37
5Pedro AcostaGASGAS Tech328
6Marc MarquezGresini Racing27
7Aleix EspargaroAprilia Racing25
8Maverick ViñalesAprilia Racing19
9Jack MillerRed Bull KTM16
10Fabio Di GiannantonioPertamina Enduro VR4615
11Fabio QuartararoMonster Energy Yamaha15
12Alex MarquezGresini Racing13
13Marco BezzecchiPertamina Enduro VR4612
14Miguel OliveiraTrackhouse Racing8
15Joan MirRepsol Honda7
16Johann ZarcoLCR Honda Castrol5
17Augusto FernandezGASGAS Tech35
18Alex RinsMonster Energy Yamaha3
19Takaaki NakagamiLCR Honda Idemitsu2
20Franco MorbidelliPramac Racing0
21Luca MariniRepsol Honda0
22Raul FernandezTrackhouse Racing0
PTeamPoints
1Ducati Lenovo Team76
         Poles: 1       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 1
2Prima Pramac Racing60
         Poles: 1       Sprint wins: 1       GP wins: 1
3Red Bull KTM Factory Racing58
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
4Aprilia Racing44
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 1       GP wins: 0
5Gresini Racing MotoGP40
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
6Red Bull GASGAS Tech333
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
7Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team27
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
8Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP18
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
9Trackhouse Racing8
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
10Repsol Honda Team7
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
11LCR Honda Team7
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0